Ghosts, as we all know, are a superstition, the product of undeveloped intelligence, but Vaksin, nonetheless, pulled the blanket over his head and closed his eyes more tightly.Anton Chekhov, "Nerves" Anton Chekhov is not known for ghost stories. His one noted foray into the genre is "The Black Monk" ("Chernyi monakh," 1894), a story about a scholar, Andrei Kovrin, who is visited by a ghostly monk who convinces him he is a genius and destined for greatness. "The Black Monk" contains a plethora of canonical gothic tropes. Kovrin returns to the estate of his former guardian and teacher, Pesotsky, which is described as "gloomy and severe" (угрюмый и строгий). 1 The estate's gothic qualities are highlighted as the description continues, denoting the unsociable gleam of the pond. Introducing a hint of incest to the story, Kovrin is encouraged to and eventually decides to marry Pesotsky's daughter, Tanya, who had been like a sister to him in childhood. The most gothic element of the story is the ghost, a long-dead (or possibly never living) monk who visits the hero multiple times. The first scenes take place in a mysterious orchard at night (with curling tendrils of smoke from fires to dispel frost around the trees), and the appearance of the black monk further reinforces the suggestive atmosphere:A monk in black robes, with gray hair and black brows, arms crossed over his breast, swept past ... His bare feet did not touch the ground. Having raced ahead three fathoms [about twenty feet], he looked back at Kovrin, nodded his head, and smiled at him gently but at the same time slyly. But what a pale, frightfully pale, thin face! Starting to grow again, he flew Conclusion: Chekhov's Ghosts

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